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Giants' 2020 Schedule is Rich with New Beginnings

The Giants' new-look schedule has this year's young team set for a number of new experiences in 2020.
Jackson Thompson|
Giants' 2020 Schedule is Rich with New Beginnings
Giants' 2020 Schedule is Rich with New Beginnings

Giants' first-year head coach Joe Judge and his staff, having learned the team's regular-season schedule, now can set about putting additional plans in place regarding logistics. 

This year's rookie class and first-year coaching staff have been given a time slate that reflects their youth in format, as typical tropes and conventions that have been in past schedules have now been replaced by newer, more experimental scheduling patterns and matchups.

NFC East Play

The Giants have been deprived of their semi-typical Week 1 ratings fest in Dallas against the Cowboys, pushing their first taste of divisional action to Week 5. This will be the latest the Giants will meet an NFC East opponent to start a season since 2010 when the Giants' first taste of NFC East action came against the Cowboys in Week 7 of that year.

To start the second quarter of the season, Judge and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy will face each other in what will be the first Giants and Cowboys game to pit two first-year head coaches in the history of the rivalry. 

The Giants then open another new chapter against a divisional opponent the very next week against Ron Rivera and Washington at home. One of the highlights of that game figures to be the matchup of rookie first-rounders, offensive tackle Andrew Thomas for the Giants, and edge rusher Chase Young of Washington in what will no doubt become an annual and iconic showing in the division.  

Those back-to-back divisional games are just the start of five NFC East showdowns in a 35-day stretch. Typically the league has spaced the Giants' blockbuster divisional games across the schedule. BUT this year the league has opted for a month-long marathon of divisional action while the teams are in midseason form.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re in a row or spaced out, division games are big for you,” Judge said. “Those are key opponents. It jumps out at you that you have five of those in six weeks and only having a couple of weeks in between each of the opponents ... that’s sometimes a different flavor." 

Adding to that different flavor, only one of those games is in primetime, breaking from the common influx of multiple Giants' NFC East matchups getting primetime slots. This leaves divisional games with more-accessible 1:00 pm start times for local fans, pending any late-season flex scheduling.

The Giants' failures and frequency for non-competitive blowouts against NFC East teams in recent years may have devalued those matchups ratings-wise. 

But it also may have bred a new scheduling formula that gives Giants fans a near-full month of NFC East action at a time when teams will be (hopefully) in midseason form. 

Monday Night at The Meadowlands

For the second year in a row, NBC has left the Giants off the Sunday Night Football schedule. However, ESPN has given the Giants a consolation deal with two Monday Night football games at home, including a Week 1 home opener against Pittsburgh.

It's the first time in the 51-year history of Monday Night Football that the Giants will have two home games as part of the series.

ESPN is getting a possible cornerstone game in Giants' history with the opener, as there is no guarantee that this game has fans in attendance, or whether it is even played.

What this game looks like as a sporting event will reflect whatever progress that the country has made in the global war against the COVID-19 pandemic.

New York and northern New Jersey, where the Giants are officially based, have been the epicenter of the virus's impact on the United States and globally. With so much disruption and general tragedy surrounding the Giants' market, ESPN is also taking a considerable risk.

The possibility of ESPN broadcasting a game without fans in attendance to open the 2020 season would make for a nationally televised sporting event unlike any other.

It's hard not to imagine an atmosphere where only the raucous cheer of an NFL sideline and the crunching of on-field collisions would resonate through the broadcast's on-field sound equipment, signifying a region still struggling to overcome a tragic outbreak.

If fans do get to attend this game, it would be something special as it's a game that pairs two of the NFL's most beloved franchises that would also mark the tenth anniversary of the Giants and Jets shared $1 billion stadium.

And wouldn't it be nice if the game could be played in front of fans, a sure sign that our nation is indeed on the mend following the devastating effects of COVID-19? 

Tom Brady's Fresh Start 

The Giants' other Monday night opponent will see an old yet familiar face in a new surrounding.

Quarterback Tom Brady's losses to the Giants in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI no doubt rank among the most painful losses of his career with the Patriots.

His brief Super Bowl losing streak finally ended against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, a win that also delivered Judge his first ring as an assistant coach.

Three Super Bowls and a pair of new jobs later, Judge and Brady meet without the overshadowing presence of Bill Belichick, for the first time in both of their NFL careers.

Brady seems to have already kickstarted a new beginning for the Bucs schedule-wise, as they will play five prime time games over seven weeks in 2020. The Giants will fall right in the middle of Brady's latest NFL tour of attention.

Meanwhile, for the Giants, the Bucs as an opponent already hold significance, from Daniel Jones' dramatic debut 32-31 win last October in Tampa Bay. 

A New Beginning on the West Coast

The Giants will also play in a landmark game for another region in a week four trip to the newly-constructed $5 billion So-Fi Stadium in Inglewood, California, home of the Los Angeles Rams.

A city that didn't even have a football team five years ago will be breaking in the largest architectural investment in the history of American sports through a possible quarantine.

Los Angeles is also among the cities hit harshest by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the uncertainties of the coming football season will have a much more expensive consequence in So-Fi Stadium's inaugural year.

The success of the stadium financially, as well as how the Rams play inside it, will be a significant storyline the Giants take part in this season.

The Dallas Cowboys were privileged with the Stadium's inaugural game in Week 1. However, when the Giants come to town, it will mark an early-season battle between the teams representing the two largest markets in the country, and a game that could ultimately play a part in foreshadowing the future of NFL stadium investment.

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Jackson Thompson
JACKSON THOMPSON

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